


Nice to meet you

by mabulatious



Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, F/M, M/M, More to be added once chapter two gets out, WIP
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2017-11-14 06:17:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/512210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mabulatious/pseuds/mabulatious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are certain teenage crisis occurring right at this moment inside Hillside High School's walls:<br/>1) A new student, well-known for his tricks in his previous town, Loki Gar Kei has just shown up (and not that that would make anyone turn around and give the guy another once-over, because pranksters are a little ignored around here. But apparently, the school's Golden Prince is his step-brother so, it is a little note-worthy).<br/>2) Apparently Tony tried to ask the really adorable and talented art student, Steve Rogers to a date and was dumped. Serves him right though, the bastard!<br/>3) Sif, the queen of our hearts, had a badass fight in the cafeteria with Natasha Romanoff, the exchange student from Russia.<br/>See what I mean?!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Nightmare that came to life

**Author's Note:**

> I wouldn't blame you for skipping on this story, because yes, this is WIP and I'm not known for updating consistently. Also, I don't write too well. I do try to improve every single time I write a story though so, that's something.

Loki made a face as he tilted his head side-ways to look over at his mother laughing exultantly while she gave adoring looks to that old man she loved so much. His friend hovered behind him, watching curiously and snorted right after she noticed what he was looking at. He glared at her in annoyance as her lips stretched widely and she shook her head, giving Loki an amused look that he rolled his eyes at. Frigga, his mother, noticing Loki and Darcy lurking by the kitchen's entrance, widened her eyes as if her own son was going to tackle her or do something terrorizing right that second. Loki gave a sullen glare to the ground before he walked up and went to the fridge to find something to take, (to eat or drink or anything really) so he could get out of here quickly without any awkward polite chats with Frigga's 'boyfriend'.

"Ah, Loki." called Frigga's boyfriend, all nice and civil. "How've you been?"

Loki stilled for a second before he straightened up, turning around to regard the old man. He gave a fake amiable smile and said. "Fine. Uncle." he added the last just to see the oldy wince a little. That one never failed to get a reaction out of him. He could see his mother giving him a reproachful glare and glanced to see Darcy rolling her eyes wearily up at the ceiling.

"If you'll excuse me." He was about to go back to his room empty-handed when-

"Actually, Loki." Oh no. " We have something we need to talk to you about. Alone." Loki exchanged looks with Darcy, whose face was entirely too interested and expectant. He then, surreptitiously tried to get a look at his mother's ring finger and found a silver band glinting smugly up at him. "Darcy hon."

"Uh, yeah. Of course." Darcy glanced around and shared another small panicky, knowing look with Loki before leaving.

There was a pause as he waited for his mother to talk and she tried to find the words to speak with a too-conflicted look on her face.

"Close the fridge, Loki." sighed his mom after a loaded silence. Loki did exactly that with his hips, without looking away from her. He was too busy staring his mom in the eye and trying to get a read on her. Did he want this? He was entirely too frustrated with Odi (that was his mother's nick-name for Odin, her boyfriend and since he'd been hearing it since his mother met the guy, that was also how Loki referred to him. First, it was because he wanted to irk the guy on purpose and then later, it just became a habit of his to think of the old man as 'Odi') for proposing to his mother this early. Sure, it was two years since they started dating and they were adults with kids and obviously, they couldn't wait to marry, but still.

"So, should I say congratulations now or something?" He said, taking his hands out of his pocket and waving it over in her and Odi's direction.

Odi looked down, resigned to his attitude already while his mother held an intense seriousness to her bright teal-jeweled eyes. His mother's eyes that always made him look down slightly in shame cause' he never wanted to hurt her.

"You should." she said. "I'm going to get married, Loki and maybe, if you tried to see-" Loki made a pained face and she stopped. He gave a hiss of breath and said:

"Look, it's fine, okay? It's fine. I just don't like the idea of moving and I know we are. It's kind-of inevitable." He said dejectedly, fidgeting on his feet. Why couldn't Odi wait for two more years? Get to know his mother a little better and maybe, wait until Loki was eighteen and out and in college. Why couldn't his life just be that little easier? But no. Odi was selfish and Loki hated Odi and his son and his town and the school he'll be going to once he moves there. Cause' he knows they'll move to Odi's house. It can't be any other way.

"Loki." Odi cleared his throat. "If you hate the idea so much-" he tentatively gave an imploring look to his fiancee. "We could-"

"No." Frigga refused vehemently. "We'll move to your house, because the town there is much closer to both our jobs and your townspeople are nice and friendly. And this town-" She abruptly turned to Loki, who started at the unexpected harshness on her face. "This town." she repeated shakily and shook her head for its own sake. "No. I won't stay here one second, but if you're so in love with it, go ahead. Go ahead and live in it."

Loki stared at her bright, watery eyes, feeling the last of his resentment and bitterness drowning away with his resistance. He rolled his eyes inwardly, because of course, this was inevitable. By the way, his mom and her (and here he shuddered on the inside) fiancee were looking at each other, it seemed like they were pretty serious about it and nothing he could say or do could stop them. After all, they were grown-up adults. He sighed. "I need more time to come to terms with it, mom. But yeah. Okay, it's all fine. I'm-" he paused to look at Odi and Frigga with as much sincerity and kindness as he could smother on his face. "I'm really happy for you." He gave a tender smile to his mother, who still looked a bit guarded so, he stepped up to hug her. She was quiet, but grabbed the back of his shirt to let him know she was going to put her faith on him so, he could try and have faith in her decision too.

He breathed in her smell and smiled into her shoulder as he breathed out. Yeah. This'll be fine. She's happy. I'm happy. This is good. He let himself have these thoughts through the entirety of his interaction with Odi and Frigga, the newly engaged couple and when they left to have a celebratory dinner, Darcy gave him an expectant look. He fell down on the couch with a huff. She sat down beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder and watching him warily.

"I'll miss you, neighbor." she murmured softly when he didn't say anything, caressing the back of her hand over his forearm as a sort-of comfort.

Loki thought about his mother's anguished face for a while, knowing Darcy could wait for him to speak when he was done contemplating. "She hates this town." he blurted out softly. His friend turned her head slightly to look at him.

"Well, duh." she said, snorting.

Loki frowned at her. "Why? there's no reason she should-"

"You know, you're a little dense when it comes to women. Actually, all men are usually. But Odi really, honest to god, is different. Can't you see that?" Darcy persisted. When he shook his head, she said after a heavy pause. "Somethings don't always stay hidden, Loki. Mrs. Dawn found out about your mom's former occupation and she gossiped it all around here."

The color and slight irk drained out of Loki's face as he looked at her in shock.

"Why?" He demanded. Loki had felt angry and he had felt frustrated today, but that anger was nothing compared to the rage that was slowly taking over him now. There were so many questions lying on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't articulate them so the only thing he could come up with was: "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Hey, I only found out about it today. It hasn't been too long since the gossip started spreading around." Loki gritted his teeth and held onto his control as Darcy explained: "I think Odi proposed so out of nowhere because of that, too. He probably could see Frigga wasn't having a cool time around here."

Oh, of course. Of course, he would be her Knight In Shining Armor again. Perfect. Really fucking perfect.

Loki blinked furiously fast as tears welled up in his eyes. "I don't know why she refuses to tell me anything. Do you know how many times she's hidden stuff from me? For god's sake, I didn't even know my own mother used to be a prostitute until you found out and I can bet she tells that man everything. Like oh, the time she didn't tell me she was having pain in her abdomen for a few days. And then, Odi had to rush her to the hospital because she hid it for so long that she fainted in front of him. Like the time- the time that she was thinking of adoption and when that didn't work out, how she used to cry herself to sleep every night. Like the time that she didn't tell me that her ex- her cruel and filthy ex had come to her office to harass her. And how Odi, a complete stranger to our lives, comes in and saves her from him. That's what I should have done if I only knew. If she had given one iota of a hint."

"Well, at least she told you that she was engaged right off the bat." Darcy commented simply that. Didn't tell him about how he was only just a kid, how could a mother put such burden on him? Didn't tell him to chin up and forget about it and hey, his mother was starting to be honest with him these days right? Didn't placate him, didn't coddle him. She didn't need to.

He sniffed, made a face and gave her a sardonic smile. Of course, he knew all the stuff anyone could have said to him for comfort. He wasn't stupid. Just stubborn and even his stubbornness had a limit. When he knew the fight was lost, he'd give up and knowing what his mother may have been going through since the reveal of her job as a prostitute-

Darcy was right, Odi was good for his mother. Ever since they started dating, she had been more open about sharing her daily life stress with Loki. The only thing she hadn't told him yet was this recent gossip escapade and he knew exactly why she didn't. He couldn't blame her. Loki was a little too protective when it came to his mother and he pulled quite a few (some malicious) tricks on people who gave her grief. Around town, he had earned the name of Trickster because of that. And while kids of his age enjoyed his stunts very much, the adults who usually tended to be the unfortunate targets of his tricks were very disgruntled with Loki.

Loki liked this town better than Odi's still. Even though his reputation was bad here, they still tolerated him. They were used to Loki's tricks. But the first time he put a prank on Thor (his soon-to-be-stepbrother) on his side of the town, his friends went on the very huge defensive. Townspeople of that place may be 'nice' and 'friendly' and the place may be rich and stunning; it was not where Loki grew up.

Still. It was for his mother. So he could do this. He could tolerate Thor and his stupid defensive friends who couldn't tell a joke if it hit them square in the face. Hell, he could even tolerate the school they'll be sending him to with Thor.

Fucking stupid- he had no idea who to blame for all this. On the one hand, Odi in his mother's life was a good thing. On the other hand, he really didn't like change and displacement.

"Sometimes, I hate my life." Loki mumbled as he held his head between his hands.

Darcy patted his back in pity. "I know."

090

When his father called him downstairs to have a talk after his date with Frigga, Thor was expecting maybe, plans for get-togethers, meet-my-girlfriend's-family kinda thing again. Also, some lecture about Thor treating Loki right and all that crazy impossible stuff that Thor couldn't even listen to without snorting or laughing out loud. But what came out of his father's mouth was a little less crazy and more I-Can't-Believe-This kinda thing.

"What?" He asked again, just to check if he wasn't hearing things.

His father said it again.

"Getting married?" Thor repeated incredulously. "But that's- you're way too old for that, father!"

Odin raised a brow and continued to look at him patiently.

"Okay, so. Wait." Thor put a hand up to think about it consciously, without losing his composure (which he may have lost already, but Thor had never believed in second chances and making up for mistakes and all that good stuff). "Yes, I may have seen this coming, but I thought you know, it may take time. Like, a year or two." by which time, you may have broken up with her or gotten sick or injured or whatever else there is out there that could have saved me from that nightmare of a thing that is Loki Gar Kai. "So that means-" Loki will be my step-brother. Oh god. This is a nightmare. This is an absolute nightmare. "That." The mischievous shit who had very-nearly pushed Thor down a cliff when they had went to a hiking trip last time. That little shit was gonna be his brother!

"Son. I don't know what kind-of things you're imagining there, but I will have to assume they're not about my future-wife. Because she is the love of my life and she has only been pleasant with you." Odin said carefully.

Thor looked up, startled and immediately shook his head in denial. "Yes, of course I love Frigga, dad. I see nothing wrong with her and I especially love her cooking! She makes delicious food. Really, why would I ever hate that woman?" Not when she seems like a much better mother than his own had ever been. Frigga had an aura around her, the warm and caring air that you just wanted to breathe in and calm yourself down with. It was so very nice. But that wasn't the point.

The point was that her son (how such a nice woman could have a son like that, he had no idea) was an unpleasant thorn that was out to get Thor, he was very sure. The way he had looked at Thor the first time they met, with a sadistic gleam in his eyes and too-many sharp teeth grinning over at him. Oh no. There was no way that thing was living under the same roof as him. No.

"Good." nodded Odin. "Then, I suppose this is about Loki."

"Can you blame me, dad?" asked Thor sheepishly. "He's a little scary."

"Well, yes. There is that." his father admitted warily, catching Thor by surprise. His father, despite his old and vulnerable appearance, had a hard strength to him that many admired and respected him for. But Thor noticed that even he seemed a bit cautious of Loki. "But they'll be part of our family soon enough and I expect you will not make them feel uncomfortable here no matter what happens."

Thor nodded numbly. Well, at least, he wasn't moving somewhere new and strange. There was just going to be a small addition of people in their house. When he really thought about it, it wasn't really such a bad thing. The Sun family estate was the biggest house around their very ostentatious neighborhood and it was much too big for only Odin Bor Sun and his son. Thor thought about the loneliness he suffered sometimes when there wasn't anyone around to distract him from the empty walls of his house. If Thor could feel it, he had concluded a long time ago that his father felt it too. It wasn't just a guess though, he had seen the way his old man's shoulders slumped whenever he came home and he thought there wasn't anyone to greet him by the door. How when he looked around their kitchen, his eyes shuttered dejectedly for a brief moment.

Not that there was time for Odin to actually stay in this house. Now, more so than ever.

He used to spend most of the day divided between his job as the CEO of SUN company and social events hosted on his business partners' houses. Sometimes, he would host parties himself, but there was no enthusiasm or anticipation for it. He'd leave the work to one of his assistants and lagged off behind his desk like a coot, not giving time to any of Thor's complaints about the caterers and idiot party-organizers rampaging through his house.

Since Frigga though, he seemed less dull-eyed and withdrawn. There was light in his eyes now, the color of his eyes brightening ever so noticeably when he would talk of his daily plan with Frigga. There was also, one thing that had changed. His father actually gave him the time of the day, planning for dinners and trips with Frigga so, he could bring Thor along too just as Frigga did with Loki. Thor and Loki would exchange knowing, grimacing looks between each other when they were told to get along and go oh, boating together.

Thinking of 'boating' triggered a memory in Thor's head and his lips thinned as he was reminded of the vicious dickhead that was his soon-to-be-stepbrother.

They had been trading insults when Loki, the tool, had nearly thrown Thor off-balance over into the deep lake. At the last moment, he had caught Thor's hand to help him balance himself back in the boat, but that had been a long fear-ridden almost-fall and Thor was shaken. The teen showed no remorse whatsoever at this and had only seemed to smile satisfactorily up at him.

Thor had attempted friendship with the boy the first few times they met, for the sake of his father's happiness, but the teen had only been rude in return.

"So," Thor began, vanishing all thoughts of his future step-brother from his mind and grinned a little, wagging his eyebrows up and down. "When's the big day happening?"

Odin gave a melting smile in return to that, the light in his eyes shining with gratitude. "Well, we haven't decided quite yet. But Frigga and I believe that as soon as possible would be well enough."

Thor laughed. "Awesome." and for just a moment, he could honestly feel content at the idea of his family joining with another's. He could handle someone like Loki.

'I will.' He insisted to himself. 'For my father, I will.'

091

"Hmm, let me think." Jess pondered loudly, leaning her head back against the locker beside his opened one. "Will I miss you or will I not?"

Herr, his giant childhood partner-in-crime, came from behind and encompassed him in a hug, all doting and affectionate. Loki smiled, Herr's warmth melting a little bit of his icy crust.

"Of course, we'll miss you, bro. How could you doubt that?"

Laughing, Johnny and his gang came to pat him in the back and give him cheerful and friendly farewells. Before going to lunch, a handsome brunet classmate whom he had never interacted much with walked up to him and leaned in until his mouth was over Loki's ears- his very very sensitive ears.

"Play one last prank as a 'goodbye' present, would you?" he whispered.

Loki smirked automatically even as his cheeks flushed at the contact and goosebumps rose over his skin. "How could I not?"

The boy laughed and left with a cheeky smile on his very bitable lips.

Darcy cackled carelessly when he told her about it. "Figures a totally hot guy flirts with you on the day you're about to leave." she said, still shaking from laughter.

"Exactly." Loki joined her, a little hysterically. "I mean, what the hell?"

This is how his last day at Jotun High School went and Loki was only just starting to appreciate how good it had and could have been.

"Fuck." Loki muttered and the look Darcy gave him made him close his eyes and throw his head over the desk.

092

All guests stood up, following the bride with their awestruck and merry eyes. Frigga wore an off-shoulder tulle gown, her shoulders straight and head up as she walked down the aisle. Loki's eyes twinkled, remembering a memory.

"What if I never find anyone?"

"You will. I promise you, you will."

His mother never married anyone, for many reasons, one of them having to do with her family situation and then her trying to sell her body off for money. She had dated few after she had Loki and there had been that one time when her wedding was all planned out with Lau Fei, Loki's biological father. But at the last moment, they found out about Lau's history as an abusive lover. She had been so heart-broken after that, believing herself to be the problem. He had only been eight years old then.

"Y-You're not angry?"

"Why would I be angry, mom? You know I've always loved you best. Lau is nothing to me."

"I thought- I thought you liked him."

"I liked him like I like that Benny guy. He's a bully, but he's funny so I like him. But that 'like' is nothing compared to my love for you."

"Loki, your tastes are ridiculous."

Loki laughed a little to himself silently and watched her as she gave him a mirthful glance while passing by him. And as he focused fully on her, he had to take a halted breath.

She was a goddess in that moment; an ethereal goddess, who he couldn't believe was his mother. Loki's smile gentled, his expression melting and it didn't irk him at all to see her reach Odi as they prepared to exchange vows. When the vows were shared and they kissed, Loki applauded along with everyone else, his each clap unhurried and purposeful. All his annoyance was replaced by this tender love he held for his mother, right at this moment. She had finally found the right person, the right dress, and the right time.

This was her day.

Darcy nudged from next to him and he blinked, turning to her as the hazy, white spell that seeing his mother in her perfect wedding dress had put him in popped off existence. He glanced at Darcy, eyes questioning. She shrugged and tilted her head to direct his gaze at where his blond-haired step-brother stood, staring back at them really fixedly. Loki blinked.

He hadn't been paying attention to Thor when he'd entered the hall, but now that he was, it was a little hard to swallow.

Thor looked stunningly well in his black tailor fitted jacket along with that delicious cherry-red bow-tie around his neck; an undeniable observation that anyone with eyes could make. That as well as those insufferably long golden tresses, that hair-dotted jaw just asking to be touched, and his sky-blue eyes that lit up an unexpected fire in Loki's belly- it was safe to say that Thor Odin Sun, his mother's husband's son was just a little bit too unbearable to look at.

On the post-wedding reception, Darcy stirred her soda by waving it around before she sipped at it as her eyes remained stony with some indecipherable thought. Loki nudged her with his elbow and she frowned up at him. He raised a brow and she opened her mouth to say something (something he knew was going to be rude and blunt) before closing it. Then, she said all too suddenly:

"Let's dance."

She dragged him unwillingly to the dance floor and they swayed back and forth to the light tune playing. A little while later and she still looked thoughtful and conflicted. He ignored her for the moment and looked around the dance floor to find his mother dancing with her brother, Heim. The laugh lines around her eyes were profoundly clear even from so far and Loki's lips twitched before something golden and red caught his eyes as he was looking away. Thor was looking straight at him again, the foursome - who followed him around everywhere - were chatting amongst each other beside him. Loki couldn't decipher any anger in the blond's gaze, but felt a little unsettled nonetheless. He turned his head to look down at his shoes, distracting himself from the gaze boring into his skull and glanced up to find Darcy's wide, watchful gaze fixed on him. He parted his lips, staring at her with his own wide and confused eyes.

He lowered his eyes again, waiting for the music to end and then, walked away all too abruptly.

Darcy gave a bone-deep sigh as she watched him leave and grimaced when she saw Thor's eyes chasing after her best friend's back.

This is so weird. she thought, troubled at the turn of events happening in front of her and walked in the opposite direction.

093

"Did any of you notice-" In strutted Tony Stark, their senior at Hillside High School, his voice conversationally gossipy. "- that our Golden Prince is pining after some gangly kid I've never seen before in my life here?" He came up to and sat flippantly across Sif, a drink in his hand and shoes coming up to cross over on the table.

She scrunched her nose in confusion. Tony made little sense even on his best days.

"What?" She questioned, glancing up over Tony's shoulder to unnecessarily search for her friend in the crowded dance floor.

"You know... that dark-haired kid who uses way too much product on his hair just to show his big damn forehead." Tony elaborated and added a question above that: "Who is that anyway?"

Fandril snorted derisively. "That should be Loki. He's Frigga's son."

Sif's eyes cleared up at the mention of Loki's name. "Wait, what?" she looked at Stark whose lips turned down into a startled frown. "What are you talking about?"

Tony shrugged way too nonchalantly.

Her eyes narrowed at this and she tried to remember exactly what he was saying before. "You said something about Loki and pining." she mused aloud. Tony's lips and eyes did a strange 'eh, what' stretch to the side.

"He also said something about our Golden Prince." Fandril added, his tone curious and a bit knowing.

Sif's eyebrows furrowed in bafflement and then, she stopped. "Wait, Thor? Did you mean Thor?" when Tony just shook his head, all tight-lipped, she looked around again. "Where is he anyway? It's his father's wedding reception, he should be here."

Volst lifted his head from the table where he'd been resting it and burped. Sif gave him a look in askance. Fandril grinned toothily and said:

"Calm down, darling. It's not like he has to give a speech or anything. The wedding's done, let him wallow alone if he wants to."

Sif was pretty sure Fandril was high on something and ignored him for the time being, still looking around, searching for Thor who had been MIA since the toast. She stood up.

"I'm going to find him."

"Let him be, Sif. He's not a baby, you know." Fandril said, throwing his hand in the air lazily.

Sif twitched and glared at him.

"He's right, you know." Tony agreed from behind her, an opinion she didn't ask for thank you very much.

More than a little irritated, she turned to regard him. "He IS a baby, Tony. He's a big baby boy who is impulsive and careless and falls for traps too easily. And that Loki, the gangly kid you were talking about? That guy is known for his tricks back in town quite famously so, don't tell me to calm down. I will not calm down until I find that buffoon."

Tony parted his lips and blew a breath. "Right, of course. Go ahead, then. Find the guy."

She very-nearly sneered at him and turned to leave.

"Women." huffed Tony. Fandril snorted, eyes laughing.

"She's right to worry though, you know." Volst, who they didn't even know was conscious, said in the tone he uses when he's lecturing someone on the merits of respect and pride or whatever. They started and looked at him. "Loki hasn't been very nice to our Golden Prince, even when our friend has."

Tony mulled this over and shrugged, pushing all of it away from his mind. "None of my business." he took out his tablet from his pocket and started tapping on the screen, his attention completely fixed on it.

Fandril's eyelids drooped sleepily, but he still looked up and said: "Wait. Wasn't Hogun with Thor?" When Volst grunted a muzzy affirmative, Fandril closed his eyes. "So, he and Sif'll take care of it..."

Tony glanced at them in the middle of his tablet-surfing and smiled to himself. Looks like an interesting person just entered into their lives.

He just hoped this Loki fellow was the resilient kind-of guy.

094

Loki was crouched down, his back to the wall, his arms folded over his knees as he stared up at the hotel ceiling. He was sitting by the exit of the hall where the reception was happening, the noise of people talking and background music a numb distraction to his mind that was preoccupied with the stillness and quiet around here, in this moment, on the outside. For a moment, Loki's eyelids fluttered closed before they opened, sensing a presence and he found himself motionlessly staring at shiny black dress shoes that he soon identified as his step-brother's.

Hiking his head up, he saw Thor looking at him very intently.

"You know, you're not a horrible person, after all." the blond-haired teen supplied without any preamble, tilting his head to the side, his blue eyes abnormally piercing.

Loki's brow rose in an 'Oh, really?' kind-of manner and he scowled. "Look, just because I care about my mom does in no way define my personality. Or give you an Out from my pranks."

Thor brought up a finger to scratch at his jaw- his very desirable bristly jaw and made a face as if he agreed. "No, no. You're right. You're still a horrible person." An unexpected smile bloomed on his face, then. Loki's throat felt tight as the blond crouched down to come eye-level with him. "Very horrible. Very scary." was said lightly, mockingly even.

Loki glared sharply, feeling his hackles rise at the gentle look on the blond's face and forced his lips to twist into a smirk. "Oh, I'm going to eat you alive. Once we're in the same room, I will play you. Again and again and you'll find it'll never be safe enough for you in your own house. It'll be hell. I'll give you hell, dear 'brother' and it'll be oh so wonderful."

A hand lifted and he flinched, backing away defensively from it as he frowned up at Thor. Thor, who was looking at him carefully, still intently bringing down his hand to almost touch his cheek. The hand didn't touch him though, suspended in mid-air, an invisible shield stopping Thor from making any move. They sat there, at a standstill, time frozen around them as he watched with growing bafflement, the unchanging warmth in Thor's eyes and Thor watched him back, eyes open and attentive and curious.

For that one inexplicably strange moment, Loki didn't exist. There was no mind, no thought; no Loki Gar Kai. There was just the peaceful stillness that he had always wished for, but never acquired even in his favorably quietest places.

This place though.

It wasn't his only. It was a shared place and when he thought about it for a minute; it seemed like an irrelevant information. Something that could easily be ignored except-

Not really.

Loki's eyes closed of their own accord. He could feel Thor's eyes on him, watching and assessing. The hand so close to touching him moved until he could feel the warmth of the palm on his cheek, cupping it.

It didn't feel quite so bad. Not at all.

He felt breath whoosh on his face; on his eyes and knew in his gut that Thor was about to kiss him. He tilted his chin up invitingly, lips parting easily, because he'd give anything for this peaceful moment to last longer and longer.

"Thor." called a familiar female voice and the moment was over. They both separated nonchalantly, Loki pulling away and Thor glancing over at the new intruder.

"What're you doing here? I've been looking all over for you."

Hiding from you, probably. jeered Loki's inner-voice that was somewhat, maybe a lot bothered by her interruption. Bitch. Couldn't have picked a more wrong time.

Or a more right timing, should be what Loki thought. Except it wasn't.

Really. It would be such an inconvenience. A BIG inconvenience now that he thought about it and really, what the hell was he thinking? It was like for a moment there, his brain had short-circuited and left its station for no reason whatsoever. Being distracted by his extremely attractive step-brother- charming the pants out of him- was no excuse.

What was wrong with him, forgetting something that should have dangled in front of his mind every second like a ticking clock? It had been just a while ago that he saw his mother wed Thor's father. It shouldn't be that hard to forget.

And yet, he had.


	2. Douchebags remain douchebags

“Soooo, since today’s the first day of school, I am responsible for picking our Topic of the Day and that will be: Anthony Edward Stark!” the announcement speakers made Peter Parker’s voice echo across the hallways of Hillside high school. In their own affiliated classes, some students rolled their eyes exasperatedly and some smirked at each other. Others, who were more resentful, glared at the desk like they could fill holes into it. Tony’s best friends, like Rhodey, of course glanced up once, but continued upon finishing his homework before the professor could ask for them. Miss Hill raised her eyebrows, watching the speakers attached to the wall across the room with a slightly judgmental look, her arms folded over her chest.

 “So, Tony? What do we know about Tony Stark, huh?” there’s a click as someone enters the AV room. “Pepper! Care to join us and tell us your thoughts about your best friend, Tony?”

There is a quiet reply on the other end that cannot be heard over the speakers overhead. On Peter’s side in the AV room, Pepper is giving a fake saccharine smile over to Peter while thinking of several ways to kill him without anybody knowing. She probably is the only who could get away with murder without anyone being the wiser and that’s because Pepper’s Pepper. And everybody likes Pepper.

“What was that? Come to the mic and say it! Today’s the day to seize your chance. To tell on Tony like you’ve never had the chance. Come on.” There’s a pause and a bit of crackle and then, there is Pepper Pott’s voice heard on the other end.

“Tony is a great guy.” She says in a dry, flat tone. There’s silence in the hallway and on the end of the speakers before Peter’s laugh carries over through the small quiet.

“Oh, okay. So, is this your way of saying that even if my best friend is an insufferable brat, I will not say bad things about him on a speaker where everyone can hear it? Or are you just having me on?”

“Well.” There’s a significant drawl to Pepper’s voice as she sweetly says: “Whatever you think it is, it is, Peter.”

There’s another laugh from Peter and then, loud and clear, Peter says: “Guys, remind me never to call Pepper on this show again cause’ I think she can kick my ass forty nines to Thursday without so much as a blink.”

“I hope not. I enjoy talking with you on a speaker too much.” Pepper says, her tone all sugary.

“Now, you’re just saying that! Look at me, I’m blushing. Sorry, Gwen! I totally love you and all, but Pepper is awesome.”

There is a chuckle from Pepper on the other end before she says: “I’ll see you later, Peter.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you too.” There’s another pregnant pause before: “Okaaay, so Pepper gave an unexpected visit and obviously, she doesn’t feel much like talking. I also, had one of my very great friends promise me they were gonna do an interview with me, but Principal Fury looks furious at me right now—heh, sorry, bad joke— so, I’ll just hand this to Carol and Carol will give you guys all the news you need for the day. Until then, bye bye New York, I hope to see you very soon in another life maybe.”

Then, there’s a squeak and clatter before another voice enters the speakers. This one is of Carol Danvers with news about how the class schedule today is gonna be, repeating some well-wishes from the Principal himself and some quote by Mahatma Ghandi about patience or something.

Most people tuned her out, focusing on chatting along and others, who actually cared about the news, listened.

-0-

‘Tony Stark.’ Pepper thinks as she wanders round the hallway, smiling at a few students who greet her in passing before turning over the question in her mind: ‘What to think of Tony?’

Pepper wasn’t really lying about it either there with Peter. Yes, Tony was an impossible antigen in her simple, hard-working life. He was unbelievably whiny and one of biggest attention-whores on this side of town. He wanted what he wanted and there was nothing that he thought could stop him (if Pepper had her way, there would be a day when he could be stopped, but that hadn’t happened yet so)

Tony had issues with his dad that all his friends knew about, because he sulked about it more than could be counted on. And like a stubborn, rebellious kid who had an arsenal of money and riches at his side, he refused to forget or forgive whatever his father did and didn’t do for him. He had blue eyes, dark hair and was a playboy at best and at worst; his flirtatious opportunist ways were a mask to hide his sensitivity to being alone too long.

She had met Tony three years ago on the freshmen seminar with Rhodey (who he knew in middle school) and on their first meeting, he had propositioned her to become his study partner. Rhodey had just stood in the background, watching and not saying a word. Though, the way he looked when she glanced at him a few times was like a brother apologizing while his little brother was embarrassing himself. It was that look maybe, that made her not hate Tony Stark right there on principle. (Tony was lucky to have Rhodey from the beginning, because otherwise, it would’ve been really hard to accept Tony as he was).

“It’s the look on your face.” Tony had explained when she raised her brow questioningly at him, silent and judging. “Like you are really really accomplished at what you do and will continue to do so without a hitch, because you are that-“ he paused to find a word and said: “-accomplished!”

She had been flattered, how could she not? What Tony basically said on their first meeting was that Pepper didn’t even have to try, because she was already better than anyone else. Well, he didn’t phrase it that way, but Pepper was smart so, she understood what he meant. And he had chosen her to be his study partner so, that was nice. But she didn’t like the way he asked her this; like he was so sure of himself, so sure that he would get her to be his… lackey or whatever he wanted to make her.

“You know, the semester hasn’t even started yet.” She said. “And maybe, my grades will drown in high school even if I was ‘accomplished’ in middle school.”

“Absolutely not. I will not let that happen. You are—” here, he paused for dramatic effects while she raised a brow, amused despite herself. “’accomplished’ and accomplished people like you don’t drown, you catch. You hang on. You get out of the shark’s way because you’re common-sense smart and the other fishes, they know, they’ve learned, but they don’t have that smart that you have and that’s why, dear—” he paused again, looking at her inquisitively and she told him his name:

“Pepper.”

“—Pepper! Nice name— and that’s why, dear Pepper, you will not be shark food. You will be a survivor.”

“Wow, your analogy’s just make me like you even less.” She said, irritated because survivor or not, Tony had just brought on the long-debated evolutionary and philosophical bullshit of natural selection to the table as his case and Pepper disliked natural selection with bias. Okay, she didn’t. She loved natural selection, but in a different way. Not in the ‘the weak gets eaten’ way, but in the ‘if-you-don’t-even-try-you-can-get-eaten-thank-you-very-much’ way.

“Don’t worry.” He winked, not even moved by her words. “You’ll come to like me. All the best people do.”

And Pepper did. Pepper came to like Tony. She didn’t become his lackey like he probably had planned to make her. That was one irritating part of it that she still couldn’t get over. No, she earned his and his friend’s respect and became part of the trio that was made of Tony’s closest friends; Bruce Banner, Rhodey and Virginia Potts.

Still, people are right to dislike Tony, but Tony isn’t a bad person in any way. He’s just… Tony.

‘So, Tony may be flagrant, may be a smart-ass, may be arrogant and selfish; but he was not a bad guy.’ concluded Pepper at the end of her pondering and sighed, because really, she looked like she was making excuses for being friends with Tony and that wasn’t it. She liked Tony and that was it. There was no why in it. No ‘what do you think of Tony’, because Tony was Tony and there was no other way to describe him.

-0-

“I cannot believe you didn’t take the generous opportunity that was given to you to complain about me. I mean, I would’ve.” Tony said when he showed up at their hang-out, sitting down with crossed legs over on the ledge of the school’s copper-mud building next to Pepper and Rhodey. “I am utterly shocked. Actually, I am so shocked that I have no words. None. Tell her, Rhodey, how shocked I am.”

Rhodey smiled and relayed the message to Pepper with dead-pan precision: “He’s shocked.” Before he turned back to Tony and said: “Unlike you, Tony, Pepper is not a tattle-teller.”

“Thank you, Rhodey.” Pepper said coolly and took a bite out of her cut-up carrots nonchalantly.

“Bullshit.” Tony called and continued when they both just gave him blank looks: “I mean, you basically do it all the time; at lunch, at a party, during a stupid presentation—”

“I don’t complain, Tony. I just shout at you because during those lunches and parties and stupid presentations, you’re doing something completely YOU and I have to suffer the consequences so, yeah, I shout at you. I don’t complain.” Pepper explained with her eyebrow twitching at his unrepentant smile as he listened.

“Yeah, exactly. So, maybe you wouldn’t shout at me so much if you, I don’t know, vented out a little to your friendly neighborhood teenagers. They totally share your pain, Pep. They’ll make a shrine out of your I-hate-Tony-Stark-because list. It’ll be awesome.” Tony rambles.

She shakes her head and she and Rhodey share a look before she huffs. “I don’t really have the will to complain about you to anyone else, Tony. I like complaining about you to your face.”

Tony waggles an eyebrow. “Does that mean—”

“In your dreams.” She interrupts. He pouts and she rolls her eyes. “Where’s Bruce?”

“Bruce Wayne?” Tony asks, face completely serious. She glares at him. “Oh, you mean, Banner? That guy who always and will for eternity spend his mini-fun life— and I say mini-fun because I’m his friend and that makes his life at least a little fun— in his father’s lab, coped up in experiments and test-tubes like a mad-Frankenstein? That Banner?”

“Tony, for the love of god—”

“Hey, boss!” calls a familiar voice from behind them. They turn to see Peter walking with Gwen Stacy down the field and waving at them with a cheery smile.

“I heard what you called me today, son. And I hope you’re ready for the consequences.” Tony wagged a finger at him in playful sternness.

Gwen giggled beside him while Peter smiled widely. “My interview today may not have succeeded in humiliating you—” he winked at Pepper. “But I promise to find another victim of yours tomorrow. AND THEN, FINALLY: YOU WILL PERISH, FATHER.” He shouted the last line melodramatically before leaving with what appeared to be evil laughs but really, was just glee of a child acknowledged by his fake-father.

Tony watched Peter walk away for a while with a big smile on his face before he laughed happily. “I love that kid.”

“Well, hopefully, that kid will continue to love you unless you do something completely asshol-ish to him. Like you always do.” Pepper remarked.

Tony hmm’d thoughtfully and then, huffed after much silence. “What are you guys even doing here? This is no fun. Where’s the rest of the gang? Where’s Thor and Clint?”

“Thor’s probably talking to the coach right now. He said he had something to talk to all the players with about the first game of the fall.” Rhodey informed. Thor was a player in the varsity football team of Hillside high school and he was the quarterback, which was kind-of a big deal.

“And Clint?” Tony asked. When both of them shrugged, he took out his phone and texted the guy.

Tony: Where r u

Clint: With Nat. Kinda busy ;)

Tony: You ditching us for dat new Russian foreign student?

Clint: She’s hot n fun. Also, she says to tell you she knows how to use a knife and if you dn’t stop txting me she’s coming to kill you

Tony paused a little before asking:

Tony: r u srs???

When there was no reply, he texted:

u dog. I h8 u right now.

“Hmph.” Tony grunted and turned to his Real friends, who didn’t ditch him for some hot Russian foreign student. “He’s busy making out with Natasha.”

“That’s nice.” Pepper says blandly, picking at her salad with her mouth all twisted up.

“I’m gonna go now.” He patted at Pepper’s shoulder in comfort and stood up. “See if the ice-cream truck is still there.” Pepper gave him a bemused look at the pat on her shoulder and Rhodey didn’t even look up as he was too busy doing his homework. Seriously, who did their homework? At all?

Tony jumped down the short ledge and made his way to the side-walk where all the cars and trucks were parked. He spotted the ice-cream truck immediately and walked up behind a small, golden-haired, scrawny kid who was being handed a rocket pops and was saying in a low, deep voice that was totally different from his appearance:

“Thanks.”

Tony’s eyes lit up as he recognized who the kid was. “Steve.” He called before the blond could turn away and walk off. Steve Rogers, the adorable student whose drawings were the worship of every art teacher around the school, blinked up and looked at Tony with recognition. Of course, he did. Everybody knew Tony and Tony knew well, mostly everybody. But also, he may have recognized Tony because they did have classes together some of the time. They even had one this year. Despite that, they never really opened up conversation with each other so, Tony thought why the hell not start now?

“Hi. Remember me? From Language class? Tony Stark?”

“Of course.” Steve said with a nod.

“Great, just to make sure. I’ve seen you around a few times and of course, your drawings on the walls of the student hall. Who hasn’t, right?” he rambled. “So, what’s up?” he asked after a pause.

Steve shrugged, looking at his rocket pops with a confused furrow of his brow. “Nothing. Just, you know, ice-cream.”

“Yeah, yeah. Me too. Wait one second.” He turned to the ice-cream guy and asked him of his choice of ice-cream, paid extra and turned to quickly step up beside the kid. “So, you know they call you ‘art student’? Like, they all know what major you’re taking when you go to college and what you’re gonna do with your life, because you’re that famous. Even, I’m not that famous and my dad is Howard Stark.” The last part was said a little bitterly, but whatever.

“Yeah, well. I just… like to draw.” Steve muttered, pink tinge shading his cheek.

“You have to like something to make it a masterpiece, right? I get that. I totally do.” Tony nodded firmly, serious for once.

“I wouldn’t say masterpiece, but—” Steve’s gaze bored onto his side as he stared. “You have a masterpiece? I mean, you know, I’ve heart that…” he trailed off, turning back to stare at the ground.

“Something like that?” Tony asked and couldn’t take his eyes off the kid’s head. They looked really silky and touchable. His hand twitched and he stopped it from reaching out. “Yeah, I have. I mean, I have a lot of them. You can’t just have one, that would be boring. But yeah, I’m working on one right now. Before, I was working on an AI.” Tony stopped himself. Wow, he really did put it out there, didn’t he?

“AI?” Steve looked so curious and endearing that he answered without thinking about it:

“Artificial Intelligence.” When Steve still looked out-of-depth, he explained: “A robot that can think and talk. It has its own little personality, the way I’ve modified it to be.”

“So, it’s… you’re an engineer.”

“Weeeeell, technically…”

Steve gave a soft smile at that. “My teacher told me few years back that once you’ve drawn something, you’re an artist. Once you’re written something, you’re a writer. And for you, I guess, you’re an engineer because you’ve engineered something.”

Tony stared at him and looked way, slowly nodding in agreement. “True.”

-0-

“So.” Tony brought up the subject the next day with his group. They were sitting around in a circle on the gym floor, waiting for their teacher to call for attendance. “Steve Rogers?”

There was a pause before Pepper groaned, hitting her head on the desk. Bruce stared at Tony blankly. Rhodey huffed in a ‘I am so done right now’ way and stood up, walking away without another word. Peter whistled:

“Wow. You serious?”

Natasha raised a cool eyebrow at them and glanced at Clint with a questioning look. He shrugged, smirking before leaning over to her, their arms brushing together. He whispered, his breath soft and warm on the lobe of her ear:

“It’s Tony’s thing. He chooses some person he all of a sudden forms an interest in and asks us about them for our opinion. Even if we tell him not to do it, at the end of the week, he’s with her or him and well…”

“Isn’t Steve a little… too little for you?” Natasha asked. She’d met the kid; he was decent. When she was entering the library one day, he had opened the door for her like a gentleman and smiled wide and flushed at her when she thanked him. They had history together and whenever the teacher asked a question, Steve was on top of it almost immediately. From her observation so far, she’d never seen a kid so genuinely agreeable and well-liked among peers and teachers alike. She’d thought it was some kind of trend in America, but no, it was only Steve who acted the way he did, which was honest, mindful, respectful and smart.

 “He’s a senior, Nat.” Clint told her. She thought about it and shrugged. Yeah, there were plenty of guys at that age who were a little short

“Even if he is a senior, he’s still…” she put a hand to vertically mark Steve’s approximate height.

“He’s cute.” Tony said, a bright light in his eyes as he leaned in. Natasha was new so, she might not know this, but the warmth in Tony’s eyes was something new and strange even if his habit of naming people he wanted to date in front of his group was old.

“You’re right. He’s adorable, but I don’t even think he swings that way.” Peter coined in-between.

Tony sighed. “Peter,” he turned to the brunette with a long-suffering look. “Has anyone ever told you how much insight into the world and the deep complexity of sexuality you have? I’ll tell you, not very much.”

Peter frowned thoughtfully, not finding offense and shook his head. “I don’t know. Steve’s really different from all the ones before.”

“Like, I don’t know.” said Tony with a roll of his eyes. He glanced to the side as his red-headed friend lifted her head from the desk, rubbing at her forehead and asked: “What do you think, Pep?”

“It’s Steve, Tony.” She stressed the boy’s name in emphasis.

“I know. Isn’t he just so dreamy?” Tony said playfully and nudged at her shoulder and stopped when she started to give him a concerned look. “Look, Pep, I get it. Steve’s pretty big fish, but he’s human too. And if he rejects me— which let’s be honest, not gonna happen— I’ll back off. But if he won’t…” he trails off with a dirty grin.

Natasha looked away, rolling her eyes and messed with her curly hair to occupy her time as she thought of how to best spend the rest of this horrid gym class.

“You wanna get out of here, babe?” Clint questioned in a low voice. She smiled gratefully at him and stood up to leave.

“Wait, wait. Clint, vote.” Peter called. They stopped and Natasha watched as Clint passed a few folded notes of money to Peter.

“Steve rejects him.” Clint remarked matter-of-factly.

Peter grinned. “I don’t know, man. Steve looks like a real pushover.”

“Don’t judge by looks, man.”

“Yeah, alright. Still, I stick to pop’s side.”

Clint shook his head. She could hear Pepper scolding in the background: “Peter, seriously, stop betting on Tony’s sex life.” Natasha’s eyebrows raised.

“You bet on Tony’s sex-life?” She asked, judgment already glinting in her eyes.

“Tradition. Doesn’t really matter much who wins or loses, in the end.” He held her hand in his, turning to her with a charming smile.

She turned to him, tilting her head as she smiled back thinly: “Why?”

“As long as Tony keeps getting away with it, nothing’s gonna change. He’ll remain a loser so, in the end, the bet doesn’t matter. It’s the number of conquests of Tony’s it takes before Tony finally has someone who can stop him.”

“Stop him from what?”

“You don’t know?” Clint chuckled when she shook her head. “We’re all just waiting for the day somebody can at least, stop Tony from destroying himself.”

She thought about it; about the little self-deprecating remarks here and there and the father he hated to mention and the way he seemed to expect a certain sense of rudeness from each and every person he interacted with.

And she understood. She felt like laughing herself at Tony’s dilemma, but she just squeezed Clint’s hand and wondered.

-0-

“Ah, there you are.” Steve turned around and saw Tony Stark walking over to him with a wide grin on his face. “I’ve been looking for you.”

Steve’s eyebrows raised and stayed there for a moment as he gave Tony a skeptical look. “What for?”

Tony didn’t stop until he was quite a few feet from him. “Well, that is a discussion that you and I need to have somewhere—” he looked around the nearly empty hallway and frowned as his eyes filled up with thoughts. “—alone.”

 _Why?_ He wanted to ask, but shrugged instead and blurted out: “That art class there is empty for the moment.” He pointed to the classroom at the corner. Tony gave him a grateful, pleased smile.

“Well then,” he went over to the aforementioned  Steve followed, frowning at himself. Didn’t Peggy tell him to stay away from Tony just a few days ago? What was he doing, trying to encourage whatever it was that Tony was trying to do with Steve?

But Steve wasn’t a pushover. He knew when people had bad intentions against him and Tony didn’t seem to want to bully Steve into submission. He just looked…well, pleasant was the word, but it wasn’t what was mostly, associated with the guy. So, Steve had his reservations.

“Well?” Steve asked as Tony looked around the art room with interest, looking as if he was searching.

“You have any artwork here?”

“Um. Well.” Steve looked to the place where his self-portrait from freshmen year was hanging around. Tony looked there as well and walked up to it, a curious smile lit up on his face.

“It’s nice.” He said after watching it for a little while.

“Thanks.” Steve shrugged his shoulders. “It was my first try at self-portrait.”

“Huh.” Tony’s eyebrows quirked in interest. He turned back around and walked up to Steve, a considering look on his face. “So, Steve.”

Steve looked up at him, feeling equal parts amused and puzzled. “Tony.”

“I’d like you to draw me.”

Steve looked at him and felt himself withdrawing a little. “You could have just asked from the beginning.”

Tony’s eyebrows furrowed and his mouth thinned. “What?”

“Never mind. I don’t do portraits of others, sorry.” Steve turned to walk away.

“I was not—” Tony stopped him, a hand on his shoulder. “Steve. I was not— I am not—” he stopped with a groan, looking frustrated with himself and then, settled on: “Date.” Steve stared at him and Tony explained: “I was going to ask you on a date. But I got distracted by the drawing and I’ve never seen your portraits despite all your artwork being glorified in every area of this school. I _never_ saw your portraits so, it was a surprise. Pleasant surprise and I thought, you know—”

Tony trailed off, frowning at himself. Steve shook his head. “I still can’t do it. I’ve never been really been good at portraits. The reason you didn’t see any portraits of mine are because they are bad.”

Tony snorted, stared pointedly at Steve’s self-portrait and gave Steve a look.

Steve felt flattered, but rolled his eyes and waved his hand over to where other art student’s self-portraits were also, hanging around. “I don’t know how your artistic appreciation is, but this is nothing compared to what the other students could do.”

“Excuse me. I’m offended. I have very nice artistic sensibilities. My father used to take me to art exhibitions all the time.”

“Yeah, okay.” Steve didn’t believe him.

“You don’t believe me.”

“I do, Tony. Now, you were saying something about a -um- date.”

“Yes, I was. And curse you for being so good at changing the topic. Now.” Tony knelt down in front of Steve in an abrupt swoop. “Will you, Steven Rogers (and yes, I know your full name. That’s really really big, if you didn’t know already), willingly go to dinner with me on Saturday night? Or will I have to force you to do it?” Tony waggled his brows suggestively.

Steve stared at him, completely speechless and looked around to see if anyone wasn’t hiding around with cameras or phone or whatever. “Is this some kind-of joke?”

“Never.” Tony put a hand to his chest. “Scout’s honor.”

Steve opened and closed his mouth, deciding whether to be sarcastic or serious and decided to hell with it. “What the hell.”

“What?”

“Tony, I’m— I’m not.”

Tony looked at him with expectant, inquisitive eyebrows and Steve realized he did want to know this person’s outside and inside quirks; he did want to be Tony’s friend.

“I’m not gay.” Steve finally stammered. It was true. He wanted very much, in one of these days, to date Peggy Carter, his best friend. He was going to ask her out, as soon as he could pump himself to do so. But Steve had been waiting. Which woman and even man would want someone with an appearance like Steve? Steve wasn’t ashamed of it, but common sense rotated that he wasn’t the most sexually desirable person out there. He had been running on tracks, drinking raw eggs in milk, eating meat just to grow some athletic muscle in his body. But he knew it would take long after graduation and Peggy wasn’t going to be around when he would.

So, in a way, he had given up on her. At least, in mind. Not in heart though. In his heart, he still had hope that somehow, someway, they could—

And now, Tony Stark— a rich kid known to cause trouble amongst teachers because he was of the opinion that he could do whatever he wanted without any consequences, dating and dumping left-and-right, and doing bizarre things in school events that his peers seemed to love him for— that person was asking Steve out.

This wasn’t going to last. He thought to himself worriedly.

Tony was talking right now, saying something about “bisexuality is a thing or even pansexuality, which contrary to how it sounds, isn’t about being sexually attracted to pans— I know, weird, right?— no, it’s about people freely choosing whichever gender they choose to be attracted to. There are people like that. There are lots of people who just refuse to label themselves and—”, but Steve only had half a mind to it.

The other half was thinking: Maybe, I can say yes.

His infatuation with Peggy was starting to weigh in on him and waiting around for her to ever like him back was something Steve had been tortuously, miserably waiting for for quite a while. And it wasn’t going to happen. Life sucked that way. So, why not? Why not date Tony Stark until he dumped him? It wasn’t like, it could hurt him. Unless, he got STD and that wasn’t going to happen, because Steve wasn’t going to have sex with Tony Stark! And sharing kisses— if it was going to happen, it would be Steve’s first kiss— wasn’t going to do anything harmful to him.

It was safe. It wasn’t going to hurt him. It— Steve didn’t try to think of anymore excuses, because he made his decision right then and there.

So, he blurted it out before he could change his mind:

“Sure.”

“So, I really think you should—” Tony paused, staring at him and finished in a soft voice: “-reconsider.”

He narrowed his eyes, tilting his head as Steve shrugged, trying to play it cool even if a voice in his head was telling him to take it back in a panic and he was extremely aware of his heart racing fast under his ribcage.

“I’ll go out with you.” Steve said with only a little inflection in his voice.

Tony continued to stare at him blankly before sighing as he stood up. “You know what? I changed my mind.” He dusted off invisible dirt from his jeans, looking disinterested again.

Steve blinked up at him and for a while, he was confused. “What?”

“I changed my mind, Rogers.” Tony reiterated without even looking at him.

 A truly raging sense of fury touched him and he went to Tony, who looked as if he was about to leave and turned him around with a hand to his elbow. “Is this a joke to you? You think, you can just ask someone out and then, take it back just because you feel like it?”

Tony seemed to ponder the question seriously before nodding. “Yep.” He gave a smug smile.

Steve suddenly, felt like every girl Tony Stark had ever dumped and more. He felt like a dirty mistress and he hadn’t even had sex with the guy.

“God, what the hell is wrong with you?” Steve asked rhetorically.

“I’m Tony Stark. What do you think is wrong with me?” Tony asked, a small smirk on his face that didn’t reach his eyes.

Steve shook his head and watched as Tony walked away without another word.

_What the hell?_

-0-

"Steven Rogers."

"Here."

"Thor Odin Sun."

"Aye."

"Ali Siddiqui."

"Here."

"Gary Sandman."

"Here, teach."

"Anthony Edward Stark."

For a couple of minutes, there was no sound. Then, a hand raised much like a white flag would in one of those old cartoons; with weak will and swaying here and there with exaggerated slowness. This hand's owner was folded over on his desk, his head bent over on the table and groans rumbling against the desk much like a dying whale on its last breath.

Ms. Hill gave one disproving look over to him and went back to recounting the rest of the student's names.

Steve rolled his eyes as he turned to look back at Tony's quite frankly, pathetic profile and found the teen's eyes peeking out from underneath his arm and watching him as well. He glared at Tony's direction, which made Tony chuckle under his breath. He looked away.

Then, he made himself concentrate on Ms. Hill as she started her lecture, feeling an itch on the back of his neck. He resisted scratching it and hunched over, grabbing his pencil and doodling on the margins as he tried to keep his ear open to what Ms. Hill was saying.

Bla bla bla, essay due on October 12th, bla bla.

Yeah, he really wasn’t hearing much. But he still noted the date on the corner of his notebook and closed it because doodling ended up with him drawing a familiar set of eyes and he was going to get a headache this way.

He leaned back in his seat, drawing a breath through his nose and took meditative breaths each time. It helped a bit. The itch on his head didn’t vanish, but at least, it was a presence he could ignore. He opened his notebook again and wrote the rest of Ms. Hill’s expectation for the essay.


	3. Chapter 3

Natasha stared blankly over Clint’s shoulder as they stood by the corner, in the student center. Clint was talking to her and gesturing wildly and she was not paying attention. Her attention was otherwise occupied by the not at all pretty-looking or talented or badass , Sif Thorne Vallishala, who was currently draping herself over Bucky Barnes.

James Buchanan Romanoff, who had transferred with her to this school and was pretending to be her brother and was not actually her brother, but her co-worker and ex-lover and a Russian spy like her.

Natasha didn’t like Sif. It was jealousy. She’d admit it any day. And maybe, she was not completely over Bucky. Whatever. She had Clint. At that thought, she focused her eyes on Clint again and tilted her head as she assessed him. Dirty blond hair, a sharp-cut jaw and really expressive personality. He was smiling right now, his eyes somewhere else too.

 Her eyes softened slightly as he looked back at her. Yeah, she liked Clint. He was her current mission and it was a little hard to stay focused on that and make out with him at the same time as he was a really good kisser and her mental facilities would sometimes blur a little.

Not that that should be a problem, because Natasha had been trained from the age of five and had muscle-reflex on her side. So, if one day, Clint Barton decided to stab her in the metaphorical back while they were having sex, she had a syringe full of Hemlock at her side and she would fully enjoy administering them at any moment without hesitation or doubt.

Clint was of course, majorly unaware of the homicidal thoughts traveling through his making-out partner (they hadn’t actually named this thing between them. He had asked over lunch but she had just looked at him with those ‘really?’ eyes and he had quickly dropped the subject. So, maybe not then.) and was talking about the time Thor had slammed one team-mate so hard on the ground in his joy at their victory that that team-mate had grunted once and passed out right then and there.

“Seriously, we jogged over to the guy all worried cause’ he wasn’t doing anything. He was just like—” Clint made a face like a dead-guy face and promptly laughed cause’ how funny was that. “and we took him to the doctors and they took a brain scan of him or something. Nothing was wrong with him though. Still, the time we were just waiting with our arms all crossed and everyone was all serious like ohh, Carl’s gonna die. And Thor was all, ‘oh my god, I killed a guy by slamming him into the ground. Am I gonna go to jail?’ well, that would have been my feelings, but Thor’s such a nice guy. He really was worried about Carl. Guy’s made of fur and warm stuff, really. It’s pathetic. Like a puppy.”

Natasha nodded with a thin smile and that’s when Clint realized she hadn’t been listening at all. “Clint, will you excuse me for a moment?” she said, not even trying to salvage the situation. She  went over across the cafeteria to where Thor and his golden trio or quadruple friends sat, ignoring his hurt expression cause’ he was hurt (Oh, he was just kidding. He knew Tasha’ had no interest in funny stuff. She just liked scary and creepy stuff. It was cool, like having a guy for your girlfriend.)

So, he watched with interest as she went over there and she started to talk to her brother, who was— now that Clint noticed, really hot and did not look like her. Clint squinted at them and started to go over there too. Then, Sif stood up and touched Tasha’s shoulder. Clint watched with eyebrows raised as his red-haired friend slapped the girl’s hand away and started to snarl at her.

Pretty soon, Sif’s face went all nasty too and then, one of them tried to punch the other and he didn’t know which because next thing he knew, one of the plastic chairs in the cafeteria were assaulted on his person.

“OW. What the hell?” He asked Tasha’ or anyone who could explain, but no-one answered because a quarter half of them were circling around watching, what could be considered ‘bitch-slap fight’ and what was actually a badass chick fight with all kinds of throws and punches and body lunges and kicks to the gut and— he stood up quickly, because he had to stop this before the Hall Monitors got here. So, Clint stood up and went over there to try to stop them like a chivalrous gentleman when Tasha’s elbow got into his eye and he went blind.

Then, he just lay on the ground, covering his eye and trying not to get in the way.

-0-

“Clint, you okay?” Tasha’ asked quietly, sitting down next to him.

“I don’t know.” Clint opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times. “I still feel like there’s something wrong with my vision. Do I see double of you, Tasha’ or am I hallucinating because I think I may have also, hit my head and I feel like that’s a thing that happens when you hit your head. Right?”

Natasha smiled softly. “No, Clint. I think that’s just Pepper sitting right beside me.”

“Oh.” Clint said and looked over and oh great, there was Pepper (who was a red-head) sitting there just like Natasha said. “How’s it going, Potts?”

Pepper just smiled. “It’s nice to see you’re alive still, Clint.”

“Yeah! I’m alive.” He looked over to give Natasha a dark look. “No thanks to you.”

Natasha immediately started to look apologetic. “I’m so sorry, Clint. I really didn’t see you there and the chair thing was totally Sif.”

“You know, if you actually saw from the beginning that I was hit, you should have come after me and held my hand or some shit.” He pulled away from her and sat up on the infirmary bed. “But now, it’s just too little too late, darling.” He gave her a charming grin.

She smiled back and dead-panned: “Oh god, what will I do now? Are you ever gonna forgive me, Clint?”

“Nope.” He replied dopily, still grinning to himself.

“Okay.” She leaned into him until their lips were close enough to touch and then, Pepper cleared her throat.

“I can see that you’re okay then. I’ll be leaving.” Pepper stood up to do as she said.

“No. Wait. Pep.” Clint called after her. She turned back to him. “Thanks for coming, you know. I appreciate it. I didn’t know you actually cared about me that much. I mean, Tony, sure. Bruce, pretty sure. Peter, super sure. But me? I’m just a guy you hang out with alongside other weirdos Tony hangs out with. So, it’s really nice.”

Pepper’s eyes were wide as he finished and shrugged. “Uh, you know, you’re a nice guy, Clint so…” she waved at him awkwardly as he cheerfully waved back and then, she left.

And then, there were two. Clint looked back at Natasha with a slightly crooked smile and Natasha still had that fake smile on her face so, he frowned and said:

“Okay, cut the act.” Her face abruptly transformed to the scary-ass Natasha he was coming to know so well. “What’s up with you? Did Sif kill your babies? Did she try to steal your favorite weapons behind your back? What? What is up?”

She took her hands back and started to look really uncomfortable so, he let her sit there silently for a second before she said: “I don’t know. I just don’t like Sif, that’s all.”

He stared at her and stared and stared. And then, he belched because he felt the urge and he wasn’t feeling generous and gentlemanly at this very moment. Natasha gave him a disgusted look, but hey, she was the one who possibly threw the chair at him so, payback is a bitch.

“Okay. So, does this mean, we’re breaking up? Cause’ I think you’re kinda cool—”

“Clint, we were never dating.” She said like she was tired of the topic already when this was probably the second time they were talking about it.

“No? Cause’ I felt like there was a dating-thing going on.”

Tasha’ froze for a second like she was just reminded of something before her expression changed. “Oh, right. Dating. You. Right.” She gave this really creepy easy-going smile that didn’t reach her eyes and Clint felt officially creepi-fied.

“Okay, we’re over. I can’t date you when you’re being like that. Sorry.” Clint turned to his other side, which was a wall so, way to wall-block him fate. He wanted to make a quick escape or something and now, he was stuck here with Natasha Creepifier Romanoff.

“Clint, you don’t mean that.” And thing was, no, Clint didn’t. Clint really liked Natasha and he knew it was just an act (he didn’t know why but he would figure that out eventually) but he turned back to her and promptly began to make-out with her. Because Natasha was hot, like mchotty hot hot hot.

-0-

“Hey.” Bucky greeted as she jumped down from the fire escape of her apartment complex. He was leaning against the wall of a dirty alleyway, wearing black stuff all over and a mask on his face that didn’t hide his long brown hair or his molten lava caramel eyes.

“Hey.” She said more dispassionately and leaned on the wall on the other side of him. They stared blankly anywhere but at each other and then, Bucky looked at her and she could feel his gaze cause’ she was hyper-sensitized to that and he opened his mouth in her peripheral vision and she felt panic start to set in when Fury entered the scene.

“How are you this evening?” Fury asked, a white manila folder in his hand. His one gaze went from one spy with cautious curiosity to the other. Neither one of them answered. “Alright then.” He opened the manila folder and read something from it. “Romanoff, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you have officially blown our cover.”

Natasha frowned. “No, I haven’t.”

Fury looked at her, his expression deadly serious. “Yes, you have.”

“I didn’t do anything. I just picked a fight with a girl. In high school. It happens, all the time.” she said defensively.

“Yes, but that fight involves more hair-snatching and less thigh-grippers. Which, you and Sif both seemed to know much too well.”

“So?” Natasha said as she tensed a little more.

“It’s suspicious as heck.” Fury says.

She rolls her eyes. “Whatever. Girls can fight.”

“I am not arguing that fact, but seeing as you’re supposed to be sixteen years old and a normal teenager who is supposed to be just average, you’re really bad at keeping a disguise. I thought you were trained for this.”

Natasha didn’t counter with anything, because she agreed. She was trained for this and she had messed up, but she was not willing to admit it out loud. Bucky looked like he was gonna defend her honor or some crap so, she immediately changed the topic:

“What’s the occasion?” which was her way of asking, why the fuck did you call us out here when we were supposed to keep our cover the whole time?

Fury looked long-suffering at her before stating: “Dr. Octo has been set free. I don’t know how, but he’s free and he’s coming for some revenge.”

“Great. Let spider-man take care of him.”

Fury’s eyebrow twitched. “No, spider-man is an intricate part of a plan I am not willing to reveal. So, I am asking Peter to stand down while black widow and—” he looked at Bucky then. “the winter soldier covertly hunt that son-uva-bitch down.”

“Do you not have any new agents who can do this kind-of stuff?” Natasha asked sarcastically, because she knew the answer to that. “I’m trying to look like a normal teenager, Director and I feel like you’re trying to make me blow my cover. Now, what am I gonna tell my covert-operation-boyfriend-and-your-new-choice-of-boytoy about the date we are not gonna have tomorrow or any other day because I will be busy messing with a freakish guy with eight arms? I have a life, you know.”

Fury stared at her with extreme disdain and she stared back without even twitching. It was awesome. Then, Fury sighed and said: “If you’ve got it then, get out of my sight. You’re becoming more and more cheeky and obnoxious as the days go on. I am disappointed, Agent.”

“Thank you, Director Fury.” She gave a two-fingered salute and jumped up the fireplace, climbing to the seventh floor and entering her apartment through the window. She didn’t look back to see the ever-silent and mysterious and cool Bucky Barnes.

Except he wasn’t so mysterious at all. He was actually very predictable. As she took off her mask and black leather jacket, she tilted her head to the side to see Barnes’ silhouette in her peripheral vision.

“We have to figure out how to track Dr. Octo.” said Barnes, like he actually cared for the mission at all. She knew why he came and what he was dying to ask. She smirked at him.

“You take care of that, you’re always so good at it and then, shoot him in the chest. I completely leave it up to you.”

James was silent. “You know I can’t do this without you, Nat.”

She sighed. Trust this one guy to turn her every hardcore bones to melt with a few touching words (but it was true because he did kind-of need her by his side. Not as a support for the mission, but an emotional one. Bucky had some trauma in his childhood that only Natasha could understand. He still tried to act like it didn’t matter with that cool exterior but he was pretty much screwed over.) Love was such a horror.

“Of course, I’ll go with you, Bucky. You could just say please, you know. Don’t have to remind me with that pathetic tone of yours.”

“Okay.” There was a pause and then: “so, you beat Sif because you were jealous?”

She glared at him, hard. He widened his eyes all innocently but he was looking pretty fucking amused and smug. Dammit boys and their stupid ways to compensate for their insecurities.

“We’re over.”

“I know.”

“We’re just friends.”

“I’m okay with that.”

“I hate you.”

“That’s new but I’ll get over the heart-ache.”

“You’re an insufferable git and I hope you die.” She says in Russian and stomps off to the bathroom, slamming the door hard enough to let him get her pissed-off, not-in-the-mood-for-teasing vibe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to tell you guys. This is my writing without all proof-reading that I do (with an almost obsessive streak). So, you have like, a rough draft. Do with it what you will because I've pretty much given up on the story. This thing is actually so funny that I thought you might appreciate it for its straightforwardness.


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